U3A

University of the 3^rd Age

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Update 18th March 2011:

The U3A is up and running, and now independent of the Partnership.

Update 25th October:

The public meeting on 31st August, at which the U3A was formally launched, was very well attended - almost 230 people!

There will be a registration/enrolment event at the Leisure Centre on Selkirk Drive from 1600 hrs to 1900 hrs on Tuesday 26th October 2010. The Steering Group has now completed temporary membership of the U3A, created a Constitution as required by the Charity Commissioners and open its first bank accounts. Recently they met with those residents who had offered to run activities for the new U3A and they are pleased to confirm that they will be offering circa 20 interest groups from November 2010.

The Steering Committee are also planing to follow up on other activities suggested by residents, but where currently no leader has come forward, with a view to encouraging members/residents to consider perhaps working as a small coordinating team in some cases (rather than as a single activity leader) to help bring more interest groups to fruition in the New Year.

Update 4th August:

Everything is now focussed on the Public Meeting on 31st August at the Leisure Centre

Update 10th July:

The local resident group who are working towards a Public Meeting about bringing U3A to the village met again on Friday 2nd July 2010.

A decision has been taken by the group, that this public meeting will be held in the Holmes Chapel Leisure Centre between 1500 hrs and 1700 hrs on Tuesday 31st August 2010. The aim of this meeting is to establish the extent of support for a proposal to start a new branch of U3A in the village.

The event will now be heavily publicised, including information to residents via the Holmes Chapel and Goostrey Parish Council Newsletters, posters, details being posted onto the 'Holmeschapel.org.uk' web site and via local newspapers and possibly local radio.

Update 2nd July:

Following the huge success of U3A in Sandbach and Congleton, to which many Holmes Chapel residents both contribute and attend, we are investigating the possibility of setting up a U3A in Holmes Chapel.

Over the last few weeks various informal lobbying of individuals has taken place, including contact with other local U3A branches, via the Holmes Chapel Today event and just by word of mouth, to establish if there were sufficient individuals willing to form a group to take this idea forward.

At the beginning of June a formal 'organising group' was formed. The U3A has a prescribed methodology to establish new U3A branches and we have now elected some acting 'officers' to the group. A pro-tem Chairman, Vice Chairman, Meeting secretary and Treasurer have been elected from within the group; in total the group currently numbers thirteen local residents.

The prescribed methodology is a three stage process:

Stage One being to establish if there is a viable opportunity to create a new U3A branch.

Stage Two is to hold a formal public meeting where the public are invited to attend to hear about what a U3A is and could provide to them.

Stage Three involves the actual setting up of the branch.

We have already started the processes involved in Stage One to the point where we have clearly identified the range of tasks need to be put in place before the Public Meeting and we are now about to start the fulfilment of those tasks. Whilst we have as yet no firm date for a possible Public Meeting we should shortly be in a position to identify the likely date (initially seeming to be October 2010 as the earliest date).